Fashion Fiasco
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What is indecent?
I was in the
theatre the other day watching a popular movie. About 30% into the movie,
inevitably, the girl and boy fell madly in love. By a wave of the movie magic
wand they were instantly transported to a beach in Europe where they danced in
the sand. Both were dressed economically as was appropriate at the beach. Several
other blonde dancers – dressed even more economically – pranced about the sand.
Our female lead gyrated her hips and heaved her bosoms because all that dancing
had made her out of breath. The hero, also perhaps tired, dropped to his knees and
administered little love slaps on her starting from her ankles and progressing to
her hips. The mixed audience clapped appreciatively. Earlier last year I attended a function where young school
kids danced to film songs aping adult stars of other movies. They wore fancy
costumes, gyrated and heaved bizarrely as their parents stood on the side-lines
watching proudly.
Fashion ration
A few days ago
a fashion show was stopped in Vizag because a) it was indecent and b) some of
the clothes had religious icons on them. Not only was the show stopped but
arrest warrants were issued on the organisers. Our local TV channels, notorious for their
lack of objectivity and purveyors of hype and wild speculation, went to town
with the contrived news. The gullible lapped it all up. Soon a group of
self-important women were agitating in front of the venue asking for the shows
to be stopped.
Are fashion shows indecent?
Fashion
shows they said was indecent and would rip the moral fibre of our city.
Vizagites would instantly transform from educated enlightened people into mindless
monsters by simply seeing the ladies and men on the ramp displaying perfectly
decent clothes designed by real fashion designers. Please note that on the stage was no gyrating
hips, heaving bosoms or love slaps. Yet we were told that the dignified ladies
and gentlemen in the audience would suddenly become crazed animals after
watching the show. This was their stand. And in a democratic city all citizens
are entitled to their views provided they do not cause harm, monetary loss or
inconvenience to others who think different.
Not just business but culture too
The total
output emanating from the fashion industry in India is estimated to be Rs.
20,000 crore of which the branded market size is around 5,000 crores. Despite
these big figures we are just 0.2% of the international industry’s net worth.
The Ministry of Textiles runs the famous National Institute of Fashion
Technology (NIFT). Every year, after 3
years of strenuous effort thousands of young men and women pass out of these
institutes. In their final year they must organise a fashion show where models
wearing their creations walk the ramp. If indeed these fashion shows all cause
the public to become depraved monsters our government would have to shut down
the entire industry immediately. Wouldn’t that be fun?
The fashion capitals of the world are in London, Paris,
Milan, New York and Tokyo. The industry also thrives in Madrid, Sydney and our very
own Mumbai. It is also big business in Singapore, a country well known for its
tough decency laws. A scan of the news coming from these cities does
not indicate that their young public have become crazed monsters. Even in the
countries that are seen as our peers in the development cycle– Brazil, South
Africa and China shows that they have a thriving fashion industry with
thousands of world class fashion shows every year. Yet no one has yet attacked
a fashion show there as they did in Vizag.
The religious image objection
Some of the
garments of one designer had a religious icon on the clothing. It was artfully
rendered and had already been displayed in other parts of the country with no
protest. Religion is personal. Just like we are proud to carry a flag or wear a
necklace with a locket with a picture of our favourite God we should also be
happy to have the almighty’s image on our clothes. If you type in “Clothes with
Hindu God prints on them” and search for images in Google, you would come
across thousands of images showing Gods on clothes. Furthermore hundreds of
responsible organisations actually sell such clothes for children, women and
men. I have a T-Shirt which says “God
is too big to fit into one religion” and under that slogan are four
images depicting different faiths. That is my favourite T-Shirt and despite it
being faded with many washes I still wear the same with pride. So, if it is
illegal to carry such images on our clothes our legal system would go kaput
trying to arrest the thousands of designers, manufacturers and retailers who
get these clothes to us.
Vizag is and always was and a liberal enlightened city.
Vizag’s DNA is progressive, not just now but for as far back as us old timers
remember. We have had several fashion shows, dances, and programmes that some
would find queasy in the past without incident. Our children have grown up in
Vizag’s liberal environment and all have become fine law abiding members of
society. I must therefore ask - who are these few new folk who have hijacked
our city? Who are they who made us all appear like a bunch hypocrites? Where
did they come from? Where will they take Vizag? Will the silent majority speak
up the next time?
Comments
Let's have more of fashion shows.
Sohan, may we have one for Senior-Citizen only?
I would luvu to partcipatu.
- Partho